by Nancy Sep£lveda
Daily Lobo
Students sold themselves to support women in engineering Friday.
The Society of Women Engineers held a date auction in the SUB to raise money for its members to attend a national engineering conference.
Participants were asked questions about themselves while they were onstage, including "Star Trek, or Star Wars?"
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Thirty-three men and women were up for bid.
Student Andres Sanchez, who was auctioned, said he participated because of peer pressure.
"I don't have a girlfriend, so there won't be any jealousy issues," he said. "I'm open to the public."
About 60 people attended the event. Winning bidders and their dates went to a dinner in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Building after the auction.
"Participants had to sign release forms acknowledging they have no obligations, other than going to the dinner, after they're bought," said Margaret Hauer, the society's vice president.
Minimum bidding started at $5.
The highest bid of the night was for Michelle Patron, vice president of the Hispanic Engineering and Science Organization.
Student Oscar Vazquez paid $125 to be her date.
"It's for a good cause, and I don't mind throwing a little money around," Vazquez said. "She's worth it."
The organization sent e-mails and posted fliers to find participants, Hauer said.
"We targeted engineering students, so we said, 'Everybody's got a little geek in them,'" she said.
The society sold T-shirts that read, "Talk Nerdy to Me."
The event raised about $850.
The auction was also an outreach event, said Elise Iverson, the society's president.
"We're getting our name out to people who had never heard of us before," she said.
The society was recently accepted into UNM's Multicultural Engineering Program as a minority organization.
"Women are still very much the minority in engineering," Iverson said. "The percentage of female engineers hasn't really changed since the 1950s, which is terrible."
The society encourages female high school students to pursue careers in engineering and other technical fields, Iverson said.
"A lot of little girls still think they can only be teachers or homemakers," she said. "It's unfortunate that, even in modern society, there's still a stigma that girls can't successfully pursue the sciences."
Iverson said there is not enough female representation at the university level.
"I've noticed that the farther along you go in engineering studies, the less women there are in the classes," Hauer said.
It is important for people to realize that women are as capable as men of succeeding in technology and science, Iverson said.
"Our organization is here to help promote that success," she said.
